12/23/2013 12:15 AM PST

"Community" star Joel McHale says he's being unfairly portrayed as a Season 4 HATER (even though everyone knows it sucked) ... telling TMZ he NEVER ripped the show in public.

McHale was on his way to shop for fancy kitchen supplies in L.A. Wednesday when we asked about a recent article that implied Joel thought the show was a disaster during the one season creator Dan Harmon wasn't at the helm.

(In fairness to the article, Season 4 WAS a disaster ... and everyone knows it).

But Joel says the story just ain't true ... and the quotes that painted Joel as a smack-talker were "taken out of context."

There is one positive ... Joel says he's pumped for the show to return in 2014 ... and insists it'll be more popular than the critically-panned-yet-strongly-rated "Sound of Music Live" spectacle.

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6/1/2013 12:57 PM PDT

Breaking News

He's baaaaaaaaack!!!

Dan Harmon, the creator of "Community" who was unceremoniously dumped from the show last year, is finalizing his deal to return to the show, so says The Hollywood Reporter. THR says the deal should be closed in the coming days.

Harmon's return has been rumored for the last week, and he tweeted earlier today, "Yes yes yes! I'm back I'm back I'm back. You can thank @joelmchale" in response to a fan's question.

He also tweeted earlier several times about the gloriousness of a certain airport bar, so take that for what it's worth.

11/21/2012 2:50 PM PST

Chevy Chase's "Community" college days are OVER ... the actor has struck a deal to leave the NBC sitcom ... effective immediately.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Chase didn't quit ... nor was he fired ... but it was a "mutual decision" between the actor and producers.

FYI -- producers have already shot the majority of the upcoming season ... and Chase will remain in those episodes. It's unclear if Chase's exit will be explained on the show ... or if it will simply go on as if Pierce Hawthorne never existed.

The move comes as no surprise -- Chase has been very critical of the show ... and famously left a nasty voicemail for creator Dan Harmon ... basically telling him that he sucks.

10/20/2012 1:38 PM PDT

Breaking News

Chevy Chase had another verbal outburst on the set of "Community" yesterday during filming, this time dropping the N-word during a rant about the direction of the show.

Sources on set tell TMZ ... Chase was complaining about the direction of his character, who he feels has grown increasingly bigoted as the years have gone on. We're told Chase was becoming uncomfortable with the material and was frustrated that his previous conversations about the writing had seemingly gone ignored.

According to our sources, Chase got so heated while discussing his character, he yelled out something along the lines of ... What's next? Am I gonna say the word ni**er?

We're told Chase apologized to the cast and crew for the comment, which was not directed at anyone in particular, certainly not the show's African-American cast members, Donald Glover and Yvette Nicole Brown.

5/20/2012 8:35 AM PDT

"Community" creator Dan Harmon's firing from his own show came shortly after his very public view with Chevy Chase -- but fellow cast member Jim Rash says one thing has nothing to do with the other.

Our photog caught up with Rash -- who plays Dean Pelton on the show and won an Oscar earlier this year for co-writing "The Descendants" -- outside a theater in Hollywood last night. He told us that the cast "couldn't love him more" and the decision to not re-new Harmon's contract was totally out of their hands.

Harmon blogged yesterday that he heard the news the same way everyone else did ... and never even spoke to the people at Sony (who produce the show).

5/19/2012 4:50 AM PDT

It's not the darkest timeline for "Community" fans, but it's close -- creator Dan Harmon is out as showrunner after Sony Pictures Television opted not to renew his contract.

Sony had clashed with Harmon for quite sometime, reports Vulture, so the news did not come as a total shock. Harmon's most publicized dust-up was with one of the show's stars, Chevy Chase, which included Harmon playing an obscenity-laced voicemail Chase had left for him to a room full of people.

Harmon blogged last night that he learned the news the same way everyone else did, via press release. In fact, Harmon said he hasn't even so much as spoken to Sony since NBC renewed the show for a fourth season last week.

He wrote, "Do not believe anyone that tells you on Monday that I quit or diminished my role so I could spend more time with my loved ones, or that I negotiated and we couldn’t come to an agreement, etc. It couldn’t be less true because, just to make this clear, literally nobody called me."

4/3/2012 3:50 PM PDT

"Community" creator Dan Harmon says he's a "selfish baby and a rude a**hole" for playing Chevy Chase's voice mail in public ... and has issued a full-fledged apology calling the move, "childish, self-obsessed, unaware, naive and unprofessional."

Harmon just posted a statement on his blog titled, "Not That It Helps, But:" ... in which he admits to playing the tape for an audience of 150 strangers at an L.A. comedy club ... because he thought it would be funny.

"I was airing my dirty laundry for a chuckle."

But Harmon says he deeply regrets his decision ... explaining, "The giant mistake I made was involving someone else [Chevy] in that game of Russian roulette, someone that didn’t have an opportunity to say 'yeah, hilarious, let’s do this.'"

Harmon says he's been paying attention to all of the critics who have been bashing him on Twitter ... and says, "Thirty people a day calling me an a**hole makes me know and feel, in my heart, that I am an a**hole. I’m a real “customer is always right” kind of guy in that regard."

We reached out to Chevy to see if he accepts the apology -- so far, no word back.

4/3/2012 10:05 AM PDT

TMZ has obtained an audio recording of "Community" creator Dan Harmon discussing the Chevy Chase voice mail moments before playing the tape for an audience at a recent comedy event ... in which Harmon calls Chase an "A-hole" who was probably DRUNK when he made the call.

Harmon played the tape at an event called "Harmontown" -- a monthly comedy event he hosts at an L.A. comedy club.

Sources tell us ... while on stage, Harmon vented about Chevy's alleged tantrum during the taping of the season finale of Community ... explaining, "I had written a very simple scene that Chevy couldn't possibly f**k up."

We're told Chase objected to the scene ... but Harmon says he stuck to his guns because he had an emotional attachment to the material.

Chevy walked off the set ... but according to Harmon, Chase eventually sent Dan a text message in an effort to smooth things over.

Harmon continued, "And then what happened a day later? That night ... after what I'm guessing is two bottles of Beaujolais? Ladies and gentleman ... Chevy Chase." Harmon then played the entire voice mail for the crowd.

4/2/2012 4:20 PM PDT

Chevy Chase is getting support from several staff members at "Community" ... who tell TMZ there are a bunch of people at the show who feel the actor was UNFAIRLY attacked by show creator Dan Harmon.

As we previously reported, Chase recently left a scathing voice mailfor Harmon after the producer led a "F**k Chevy" chant at the season wrap party.

Now, sources who work on the show tell us ... "What Dan Harmon did was f**ked up ... Chevy is a pleasure to work with."

We're told ... many people on set feel the "dispute" that took place between the two men during the taping of the season finale was blown out of proportion by Harmon ... because Chevy was "very respectful."

Here's how we're being told it all went down -- Chevy had an issue with one of the scenes and asked for a rewrite. We're told Chevy was very calm and polite ... but told producers he would "respectfully decline" to participate in the scene unless a change was made.

Producers shot down Chevy's request ... and he quietly left the set without incident.

Our sources tell us they felt the issue had been handled privately because Chevy showed up at the wrap party ... and everyone was shocked when Harmon grabbed the mic and unloaded on the actor.

One source tells us, "What Dan did was embarassing and left a sour taste in all of our mouths ... so low class."

The source adds, "The staff was not pissed at Chevy ... we're pissed at Dan. We all hope Chevy comes back next season."